Conceptualising the Covid-19 shock to understand how we live and work in cities

The Covid-19 pandemic and related stay-at-home measures have genuinely impacted how and where we live and work in cities. Work from home was made compulsory for the workers able to do so. Imposing such a measure was made possible following a long process of labour markets’ flexibilization. The latter has contributed to reshaping live-work relationships, especially in large cities where urban regeneration strategies have integrated the creation of attractive live-work environments in the context of accelerated globalisation, advanced capitalism and increased competitiveness. The pandemic effects on those relationships have been little explored from the perspective of housing and planning studies. Initially seen as a critical juncture, Covid-19 is now widely considered an exogenous shock contingent upon other shocks, embedded in structural crises (e.g., the housing crisis) and accelerating on-going trends, of which the digitalisation and flexibilization of living and working places is probably one of the most evident. This paper reflects on conceptualisations of Covid-19 to help understand its possible long-term, structural effects on living and working in cities. From there, based on an in-depth literature review, we suggest further housing research on (i) actors’ policy responses to accumulated uncertainties in housing provision and (ii) housing regulations that foster housing quality and resilience.